`

Thursday, May 11, 2017

PAS a confused party, says Dr Mahathir

On one hand they don't want to work with anybody, while on the other they want to work with somebody, says the former prime minister.

KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad has described PAS, which has severed ties with all opposition parties, as a confused group as they are unsure of what they want.

The former prime minister said he was unsure of the policy of the party now.

“On one hand they don’t want to work with anybody, while on the other they want to work with somebody,” he told reporters in response to PAS’s latest decision not to have any political relationship with PKR.

Dr Mahathir was at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court today to witness the acquittal of former Umno leader Khairuddin Abu Hassan and lawyer Matthias Chang on a charge of sabotaging the nation’s banking and financial services.

Yesterday, the PAS Syura Council confirmed the recent PAS decision to end ties with PKR, but the party’s spiritual arm, however, left it to the central committee to decide if PAS assemblymen should leave the Selangor government.

PAS has also dismissed any political cooperation with PPBM. The Islamist party dissociated itself with the DAP in July last year.

Dr Mahathir said PAS had performed poorly whenever it went solo but had done well whenever it worked with the DAP.

“Once, they only won one (parliament) seat (in 1986), and 27 seats on another occasion (1999). But obviously they cannot form the government if they go it alone,” he said.

He said the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan (PPBM, PKR, DAP and Amanah), now had to accept the fact that three-cornered fights were not avoidable.

“But the third contestant is actually helping the Barisan Nasional to split the opposition vote. So, they are almost directly helping the BN,” he said. FMT